David B. Samadi is the Chairman of Urology, Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. He is a board-certified urologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urologic diseases, prostate cancer, kidney cancer and bladder cancer, and specializes in advanced minimally invasive treatments for prostate cancer, including laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and laparoscopic robotic radical prostatectomy.
Born and raised in the Persian Jewish community of Iran, at age 15 Samadi and his younger brother left in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution. They continued their education in Belgium and London before coming to the United States where Samadi completed high school in Roslyn, New York. After high school, Samadi attended Stony Brook University and earned his degree in biochemistry on a full scholarship. He earned his M.D from S.U.N.Y., Stony Brook School of Medicine, Stony Brook, New York in 1994. Samadi completed his postgraduate training in urology at Montefiore Medical Center and in protoctology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1996 and Montefiore Medical Center in 2000. He completed an oncology fellowship in protoctology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2001 and a robotic radical prostatectomy fellowship at Henri Mondor Hospital Creteil in France under the mentorship of Professor Claude Abbou in 2002.
He first practiced at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, then joined the faculty of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in 2007 where he became the Vice Chair of the Department of Urology, and the Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery. In 2012, he was the highest paid doctor in New York City, earning $7.6 million. He moved his team to Lenox Hill Hospital in 2013, where he became the Chair of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery and was appointed Professor of Urology at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.
Samadi is a member of the American Urological Association and the American Medical Association. Samadi is included in Castle Connolly Medical's America's Top Doctors and New York Magazine's Best Doctors List.
Samadi is a host of Sunday Housecall on Fox News Channel with Marc Siegel.
In March 2015 Samadi launched a radio program on New York City's am970, World Health News as well as a website to blog about health news.
On August 27, 2013, Samadi appeared as a guest on a segment of the Fox & Friends morning television show to discuss whether women should pay more than men for health insurance. At the time of the interview, the gender rating for insurance premiums was common practice among health insurers, with estimates that women paid about $1 billion a year more than men on health insurance. However, under the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010 (″Obamacare″), the practice was banned effective January 1, 2014, and this is considered to be one of the most uncontroversial provisions in the law. Samadi argued that women pay more for health insurance, because they, for a number of reasons, tend to use the health care system more than men. He stated that women go through more preventive screening; they give birth; they have mammograms and PAP smears; men do not like to go to the doctor. According to Samadi, men should make use of the system just as much as women and get preventive screenings done for cancer, especially prostate cancer. Prostate specific antigen levels (PSA) should be checked for men beginning at the age of 50, unless otherwise at a higher risk.
To fix this whole insurance companies and, like, health care system, you have to get the third payer party out of this. If you paid for it, that would be the way to go. We should all have some catastrophic insurance for hospitals, but when it comes to your CAT scans, X-rays, doctors, you have to come in with your credit card or cash and say, "I'd like to see the doctor." That would take care of all of this stuff.
In support of this position, Samadi said,
I just think that the whole system is not working well. I mean this is one of the examples, where men and women are totally different, there is a sex difference when it comes to the health care use, but I really think that if you pay for it, you are going to negotiate, finding out where is the best doctor, where you're going to get a better deal on all these X-rays etc., that's how you're gonna save money.
Samadi's comments have attracted widespread online criticism, in various blogs, such as those in Slate, Freak Out Nation, Wonkette, National Women's Law Center, Daily Kos, and Marie Claire.
Samadi is married to Sahar Danielpour also of Iranian Jewish descent. He practices Judaism. The couple lives in Old Westbury, New York.
Lavery, Hugh J.; Mikulasovich, Michael; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Samadi, David B.; Unger, Pamela; Xiao, Guang–Qian (2010). "Mohs surgery of the prostate: the utility of in situ frozen section analysis during robotic prostatectomy". Department of Urology, the Mount Sinai Medical Center, NeY, and Department of Pathology, the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY. Brajtbord, Jonathan S.; Jacob, Brian P.; Lavery, Hugh J.; Mccash, Samuel; Samadi, David B. (2010). "Continuing Robotically? The Completion of a Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy After Laparotomy". Journal of Endourology 24 (10): 1613–1616. doi:10.1089/end.2009.0528. PMID 20858052. Brajtbord, Jonathan S.; Lavery, Hugh J.; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Senaratne, Prathibha; Samadi, David B. (2010). "Endorectal magnetic resonance imaging has limited clinical ability to preoperatively predict pT3 prostate cancer". Department of Urology, the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY. Brajtbord, Jonathan; Lavery, Hugh J.; Moskovic, Daniel J.; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Rehman, Jamil; Samadi, David B. (2010). "High body mass index does not affect outcomes following robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy". Department of Urology, the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY. Brajtbord, Jonathan S.; Lavery, Hugh J.; Levinson, Adam W.; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Pollard, Matthew E.; Samadi, David B. (2010). "Unnecessary Imaging for the Staging of Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Is Common". Ambulatory & Office Urology. Carlucci, John R.; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Samadi, David B. (2009). "What PCPs and geriatricians need to know about robotic prostatectomy and organ-confined prostate cancer". Geriatrics 64 (2): 8–14. PMID 19256581. Rehman, Jameel; Chughtai, Bilal; Schulsinger, David; Adler, Howard; Khan, S. Ali; Samadi, David (2008). "A percutaneous subcostal approach for intercostal stones". Journal of endourology 22 (3): 497–502. doi:10.1089/end.2007.0263. PMID 18298314. Herman, MP; Raman, JD; Dong, S; Samadi, D; Scherr, DS (2007). "Increasing body mass index negatively impacts outcomes following robotic radical prostatectomy". JSLS 11 (4): 438–42. PMC 3015841. PMID 18246641. Raman, JD; Dong, S; Levinson, A; Samadi, D; Scherr, DS (2007). "Robotic radical prostatectomy: operative technique, outcomes, and learning curve". JSLS 11 (1): 1–7. PMC 3015817. PMID 17651548. Capodice, Jillian L.; Jin, Zhezhen; Bemis, Debra L.; Samadi, David; Stone, Brian A.; Kapan, Steven; Katz, Aaron E. (2007). "A pilot study on acupuncture for lower urinary tract symptoms related to chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain". Chinese medicine 2: 1. doi:10.1186/1749-8546-2-1. PMC 1800847. PMID 17284322. Samadi, David; Levinson, Adam; Hakimi, Ari; Shabsigh, Ridwan; Benson, Mitchell C. (2007). "From proficiency to expert, when does the learning curve for robotic-assisted prostatectomies plateau? The Columbia University experience". World Journal of Urology 25 (1): 105–10. doi:10.1007/s00345-006-0137-4. PMID 17192816. Rehman, Jamil; Boglia, Joseph; Chughtai, Bilal; Sukkarieh, Troy; Khan, Sardar A.; Lewis, Richard; Darras, Frank; Wadhwa, Nand K.; et al. (2006). "High body mass index in muscular patients and flank position are risk factors for rhabdomyolysis: case report after laparoscopic live-donor nephrectomy". Journal of endourology 20 (9): 646–50. doi:10.1089/end.2006.20.646. PMID 16999617. Rehman, Jamil; Ragab, Maged M.; Venkatesh, Ramakrishna; Sundaram, Chandru P.; Khan, S. Ali; Sukkarieh, Troy; Samadi, David; Chughtai, Bilal; et al. (2004). "Smooth-muscle regeneration after electrosurgical endopyelotomy in a porcine model as confirmed by electron microscopy". Journal of endourology 18 (10): 982–8. doi:10.1089/end.2004.18.982. PMID 15801366. Rehman, Jamil; Chughtai, Bilal; Guru, Khurshid; Samadi, David; Khan, S. Ali (2008). "Laparoscopic extravesical ureteroneocystostomy by a new 'Y' flap technique". Journal of endourology 22 (8): 1701–3. doi:10.1089/end.2007.0346. PMID 18721047. Hoznek, Andras; Zaki, Safwat K.; Samadi, David B.; Salomon, Laurent; Lobontiu, Adrian; Lang, Philippe; Abbou, Clement-Claude (2002). "Robotic assisted kidney transplantation: an initial experience". The Journal of Urology 167 (4): 1604–6. doi:10.1016/S0022-5347(05)65162-2. PMID 11912372. Hoznek, Andras; Samadi, David B.; Salomon, Laurent; de la Taille, Alexandre; Olsson, Leif E.; Abbou, Clement-Claude (2002). "Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: published series". Current urology reports 3 (2): 152–8. doi:10.1007/s11934-002-0028-1. PMID 12084208. Collingwood, SA; McBride, RB; Leapman, M; Hobbs, AR; Kwon, YS; Stensland, KD; Schwartz, RM; Pollard, ME; Samadi, DB (2014). "Decisional regret after robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy is higher in African American men". Urol Oncol. S1078-1439 (13): 00453–5. doi:10.1016/j.urolonc.2013.10.011. PMID 24411791. Kwon, YS; Leapman, M; McBride, RB; Hobbs, AR; Collingwood, SA; Stensland, KD; Samadi, DB (2013). "Robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy in men with metabolic syndrome". Urology Oncology 32 (1): 40.e9–40.e16. doi:10.1016/j.urolonc.2013.04.008. PMID 23820091. Lavery, YS; Levinson, AW; Samadi, DB (2012). "Robotic-assisted vs. open radical prostatectomy: when can we stop the debate?". Urology Oncology 30 (5): 549–52. doi:10.1016/j.urolonc.2011.03.003. PMID 23193567. Bernstein, AN; Levinson, AW; Hobbs, AR; Lavery, HJ; Samadi, DB (2013). "Validation of online administration of the sexual health inventory for men.". The Journal of Urology 189 (4): 1456–61. doi:10.1016/j.juro.2012.10.053. PMID 23085298. Lavery, HJ; Levinson, AW; Hobbs, AR; Sebrow, D; Mohamed, NE; Diefenbach, MA; Samadi, DB (2012). "Baseline functional status may predict decisional regret following robotic prostatectomy.". The Journal of Urology 188 (6): 2213–8. doi:10.1016/j.juro.2012.08.016. PMID 23083647. Lavery, HJ; Patel, SA; Chine, E; Samadi, DB (2011). "Combined robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and laparoscopic hemicolectomy.". Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons 15 (4): 550–4. doi:10.4293/108680811X13176785204517. PMC 3340969. PMID 22643515. Kates, M; Lavery, HJ; Brajtbord, J; Samadi, D; Palese, MA (2012). "Decreasing rates of lymph node dissection during radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma.". Annals of Surgical Oncology 19 (8): 2693–9. doi:10.1245/s10434-012-2330-6. PMID 22526899. Diefenbach, MA; Mohamed, NE; Butz, BP; Bar-Chama, N; Stock, R; Cesaretti, J; Hassan, W; Samadi, DB; Hall, SJ (2012). "Acceptability and preliminary feasibility of an internet/CD-ROM-based education and decision program for early-stage prostate cancer patients: randomized pilot study". Journal of Medical Internet Research 14 (1): e6. doi:10.2196/jmir.1891. PMC 3846339. PMID 22246148. Sebrow, D; Lavery, HJ; Brajtbord, JS; Hobbs, A; Levinson, AW; Samadi, DB (2012). "Monitoring validated quality of life outcomes after prostatectomy: initial description of novel online questionnaire.". Urology 79 (2): 314–9. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2011.08.075. PMID 22137540. Shariat, SF; Scherr, DS; Gupta, A; Bianco, FJ; Karakiewicz, PI; Zeltser, IS; Samadi, DB; Akhavan, A (2011). "Emerging biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis, staging, and prognosis.". Archivos de Espanoles de Urologia 64 (8): 681–94. PMID 22052751. Lavery, HJ; Small, AC; Samadi, DB; Palese, MA (2011). "Transition from laparoscopic to robotic partial nephrectomy: the learning curve for an experienced laparoscopic surgeon.". Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons 15 (3): 291–7. doi:10.4293/108680811X13071180407357. PMC 3183539. PMID 21985712. Lavery, HJ; Levinson, AW; Brajtbord, JS; Samadi, DB (2013). "Candidacy for active surveillance may be associated with improved functional outcomes after prostatectomy.". Urology Oncology 31 (2): 187–92. doi:10.1016/j.urolonc.2010.11.013. PMID 21795076. Maniar, KP; Unger, PD; Samadi, DB; Xiao, GQ (2011). "Incidental prostatic paraganglia in radical prostatectomy specimens: a diagnostic pitfall.". International Journal of Surgical Pathology 19 (6): 772–4. doi:10.1177/1066896911414567. PMID 21791487. Lavery, HJ; Patel, S; Palese, M; Kasabian, NG; Gainsburg, DM; Samadi, DB (2010). "Combined robotic radical prostatectomy and robotic radical nephrectomy.". Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons 14 (4): 603–7. doi:10.4293/108680810X12924466008240. PMC 3083060. PMID 21605533. Lavery, HJ; Senaratne, P; Gainsburg, DM; Samadi, DB (2010). "Robotic prostatectomy in a patient with hemophilia.". Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons 14 (3): 439–41. doi:10.4293/108680810X12924466007287. PMC 3041048. PMID 21333205. Lavery, HJ; Brajtbord, JS; Levinson, AW; Nabizada-Pace, F; Pollard, ME; Samadi, DB (2011). "Unnecessary imaging for the staging of low-risk prostate cancer is common.". Urology 77 (2): 274–8. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2010.07.491. PMID 20932557. Bernstein, Adrien N.; Lavery, Hugh J.; Hobbs, Adele R.; Chin, Edward; Samadi, David B. (2013). "Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and previous surgical history: a multidisciplinary approach". Journal of Robotic Surgery 7 (2): 143–151. doi:10.1007/s11701-012-0358-z. Leapman, Michael; Kwon, Young Suk; Collingwood, Shemille A.; Chin, Edward; Katsigeorgis, Maria; Hobbs, Adele R.; Samadi, David B. (2014). "Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy in Men with Proctocolectomy and Resotorative Ileal Pouch-Anal Anastomosis". Case Reports in Urology 2014: 2. doi:10.1155/2014/538382. 
